


Busted

by adelaide_rain



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: And Shepard and Kaidan being ridiculously in love, EDI being EDI, First Time, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-18 04:03:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10608903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adelaide_rain/pseuds/adelaide_rain
Summary: The crew was bound to find out about him and Kaidan sooner or later, but Shepard thought they'd have at least a couple of days before it happened.





	

It’s been _way_ too long since Shepard got laid. 

Not that that’s news to him. Even without counting the two years he was in a coma or dead, or - well, he doesn’t like to think about it. But even ignoring that, he’s been pining for Kaidan since the day they met and hadn’t slept with anyone for nearly a year before that. 

And maybe it’s the waiting that made the sex so goddamn spectacular, or maybe it’s just that once they got past the first-time nerves they _got_ each other, more than anything Shepard’s ever experienced. But the point is, it’s been a long time since Shepard woke up with someone sharing his bed. 

Which might go some way to explain why, upon waking and discovering he wasn’t alone, Shepard almost threw Kaidan out of bed with a biotic shockwave. 

“I’m so sorry,” he says for the third time, and Kaidan chuckles, shaking his head. Shepard’s distracted for a moment by how _good_ he looks – he’s sitting up in bed naked with messy hair and a sleepy smile, sheets draped around his waist. Shepard can’t stop looking, memorising every freckle and every scar, just in case. 

“Will you stop apologising?” Kaidan says and reaches over to run a finger down a mostly-healed scar on Shepard’s jaw. “I’m the Canadian one, remember?” 

“True. But I think you deserve one more apology,” Shepard says as he pushes Kaidan down onto the mattress, kissing his way down his body before settling between his legs - nothing says _sorry_ like a blow job. A truly excellent blow job, if Kaidan’s reaction is any indication. 

After, they lie there for a long time, holding each other. Shepard can’t stop kissing him, can’t stop smiling – which might be embarrassing if Kaidan wasn’t doing the same thing. 

Eventually they pull themselves out of bed to shower and dress, but they linger between the cabin door and the elevator. Out there is hard work and the horror of war, but here, in this safe and quiet space, the only thing that matters is each other. There’s the heat of their bodies pressed together; the warm brown of Kaidan’s eyes and the rough scrape of his stubble; the rumble of his laugh and the taste of his kiss. Shepard drinks it in, drowns in it. 

Finally they make their way into the elevator, straightening their uniforms and making sure to stand at least a foot apart in some semblance of professionalism. 

“You know,” Kaidan says, cocking his head mock-thoughtfully, a smile tugging at his lips. “If having you almost kill me in my sleep means a repeat of this morning… It’ll be worth it.”

“I didn’t _almost kill you,”_ Shepard says, poking Kaidan in the arm and stealing a kiss before the elevator doors open. “But I do plan to repeat everything else, as often as possible.”

“Glad to hear it,” Kaidan says as the doors slide open, and then it’s back to the real world. Traynor hands Shepard a datapad full of reports, and tells him Hackett wants to speak to him as soon as he’s read them. And so the day settles back into its usual patterns, but Shepard’s mind keeps creeping back to Kaidan, and he smiles every time it does. It’s nice; something to ease the weight of his work, of the war. It makes him feel _human,_ and he realises that he’s not felt like anything other than a soldier in a long time. 

He at least manages to keep a straight face when he’s talking to Hackett, but even then there are a few times he almost cracks. And when Hackett mentions the extreme detail in Major Alenko’s reports the smile breaks free, however much Shepard tries to bite down on it. Hackett raises an eyebrow, Shepard clears his throat, neither of them say anything. Probably for the best. 

He gets through the rest of the discussion without issue, but as the scanner to let him into the CIC takes its sweet time, his mind drifts back to Kaidan’s soft moans and hard body, the scrape of Kaidan’s nails down his back, the slick warmth of his mouth.

The doors finally slide open, and Shepard steps through, trying to drag his mind back into work. It’s surprisingly hard; Shepard’s always been focused on work, maybe to the detriment of everything else, but now…

He wishes they could take some time out, somewhere far away from the war with nothing to think about but each other. Find a nice planet with beaches and mountains to explore, and a hotel room to go back to where he can learn all the ways to make Kaidan breathless. Not just that, though - the sex is amazing but Shepard is greedy and he wants so much more – he wants to make Kaidan smile, to make him laugh; wants to see the way sunlights bring out the gold flecks in his eyes, to see starlight soften his edges-

“Everything alright, Commander?” 

Traynor’s words snap him out of the daydream, and he thrusts the datapad at her like that was his intention all along. She looks at him curiously as she takes it from him. He has no idea what his face is doing to prompt her question, but he tries to school it into something professional and nods. 

“Fine, Traynor. Thanks for asking.”

She looks at him for a moment longer, a question in her eyes, but turns back to her station. 

Reminding himself that he’s supposed to be an Alliance Marine, not a lovestruck teenager, he goes to his private terminal and checks his mail. There are couple of spam mails and a request from Steve to upgrade the shields on the shuttle, which Shepard authorises immediately. Considering that every mission these days seems to involve dodging Harvesters it’s an excellent idea. He tries to finish his report on the last mission but he’s never been a paperwork guy, especially when there are so many more interesting things to think about. After trying – and failing – to write the same sentence three times, Shepard sends a message to Kaidan instead. 

_You’re very distracting, Major._

Kaidan _is_ a paperwork guy – as well as ridiculously meticulous, his reports are colour-coded and alphabetised, it’s kind of adorable – so Shepard is somewhat surprised to get a reply straight away. It’s flattering – Kaidan’s putting Shepard over his report-writing; the highest form of compliment. 

_**Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you. Every time I try finish this paperwork, I just keep remembering last night. And this morning.**_

Shepard grins. _You should be thinking about what I’m going to do to you tonight._

Again, almost instantly: _**…I’m never going to be able to concentrate on work ever again, am I?**_

_This is your life now, K._

_**No regrets, Shepard.**_

Shepard knows he’s grinning like a fool, and he knows Traynor is looking at him suspiciously, but he can’t help it. He might not be a teenager, but the lovestruck bit is spot on. It’s just – it’s taken them so long to get to this moment. Months of longing looks and shy smiles, of slowly opening up and letting the other in, attempts – successful and otherwise – at flirting, and ending up with nothing more than an almost-kiss back on the SR-1. 

Until now. 

And now that Shepard’s had a taste of Kaidan – _literally,_ he thinks with a smirk – he’s not giving him up. 

Traynor’s straight up staring at him now, so Shepard heads up to the cockpit before she catches on. The crew is bound to find out about him and Kaidan sooner or later, but he’d like to think they have at least a couple of days before that happens. 

“Joker,” Shepard says as he steps into the cockpit. “Everything alright up here?”

“Sure, Commander,” Joker says, not looking away from the controls. “Course is plotted to Khar’shan – we should be there in just over an hour. It’s Reaper central, though, so we should stay quiet when we get there.”

“Understood.” He turns to EDI, and sees her looking at him. She has a tilt to her head, a very human gesture that suggests she has something to say, possibly about human behaviour. It usually results in an interesting conversation, so Shepard asks, “What is it, EDI? Do you have a question?”

“An observation. I’m pleased to report that sensors show a significant decrease in your stress levels now that you’ve commenced an intimate relationship with Major Alenko.”

 _Fuck,_ is all Shepard can think as he stares at her, open-mouthed. Joker turns around in his chair with the biggest grin Shepard’s ever seen on him, and that’s saying something.

“Wow, Shepard,” Joker says, voice shaking as he tries not to laugh. “You and Kaidan finally got it on, huh?”

Groaning, Shepard drags a hand down his face. Not even one day. Not even _half_ a day. “I don’t suppose there’s any point denying it, is there?”

“Nope.” Joker’s still grinning; Shepard’s not sure he’ll ever stop. 

“And is there any point asking you to keep this to yourself?”

“Aw, come on, Commander, you can’t ask me to sit on A-grade scuttlebutt like this. Besides, it’s not like you’re any good at keeping a secret.”

Shepard folds his arms and looks down at Joker. “I’m an N7, Joker. Special operations, a Spectre-“

“Okay, fine,” Joker says, rolling his eyes. “You can keep the fate-of-the-galaxy stuff to yourself. But personal stuff? No way. You and Kaidan were mooning over each other basically the whole mission back on the SR-1, everyone knew it. Neither of you were subtle.”

Judging from the way Traynor was staring at him, Shepard has to concede that Joker is probably right. 

“I can open ship-wide communications if you’d prefer to make the announcement yourself, Shepard,” EDI suggests in an innocent voice, but with the way her sense of humour has developed, Shepard’s not quite sure he buys it. 

“Yeah, Shepard,” Joker says, snickering. “Go ahead and announce it over comms, I dare you. Just let me get to a security terminal first so I can watch everyone’s reactions. So I can see _Kaidan’s_ reaction.”

 _“Stop.”_

Joker cackles, but then his smile softens. “In all seriousness, Shepard – congratulations. It’s about damn time.”

“Tell me about it,” Shepard says with a smile of his own. Joker’s genuinely happy for them – he’s pretty sure the rest of the crew will be too, especially the ones who’ve been with them since the beginning. They’re like family – a dysfunctional, multi-species family with a worrying fondness for weapons and calibration, but still. 

“And if he hurts you again, like he did on Horizon?” Joker adds as he turns back to the controls. “EDI’s body kicked his ass on Mars, she can do it again.” 

“Joker!”

“Just saying, Commander. Now get out of here so I can get on with the gossiping.”

There’s not really anything to say to that. He could remind Joker that _he’s_ supposed to be the one giving the orders here, but he’s pretty sure that would have exactly zero effect. Or worse yet, Joker would start asking who gives orders in the bedroom, since strictly speaking Kaidan outranks Shepard, and then EDI would start asking what that means, and-

No. Just no. 

So he lets his feelings be known in the form of an exaggerated sigh before heading for the elevator to tell Kaidan before someone else does. 

===

Kaidan’s reaction to the news is pretty much what Shepard expected. 

_“Already?”_

“EDI,” is all Shepard says, and Kaidan groans. 

“Fantastic. So Joker knows too, and if Joker knows, the rest of the crew will know in – what, an hour, max?”

“Half an hour, if we’re lucky.” Shepard glances at Kaidan, not sure how to read his expression. That’s the problem with Sentinels, he thinks; they’re so controlled that it’s hard to know what they’re thinking. Or maybe that’s just Kaidan and those hidden depths of his. “I’d say I’m sorry, but – well, this wasn’t my fault.”

“I’m not blaming you, Shepard,” Kaidan steps closer to him, touches his forearm and after a second lets his fingers trail down to squeeze his hand, like he’s just remembered that he can. Shepard slots their fingers together, and is rewarded with a smile as warm as summer sunshine. “I was kinda hoping to avoid the scuttlebutt for at least a couple of days, though.”

“That’s the Normandy for you,” Shepard says with a one-shouldered shrug, and Kaidan laughs softly. 

“True enough.” He gazes at Shepard, then his smile turns wicked as he steps closer. “You know, if they’re going to be gossiping about us anyway… Maybe we should give them something to talk about.” 

“Oh? What do you have in mind?”

“We could play a little hooky. Have a little fun.”

First Kaidan puts Shepard above report-writing, and now he’s putting him above work all together. He really _does_ have it bad. 

He’s not the only one. 

Shepard closes the gap between them and kisses Kaidan softly, the gentle touch making him shiver. “I don’t want to make a habit of this,” Shepard says, and kisses him again. “But we _do_ have an hour until we reach Khar’shan.”

“An hour would be perfect.” Another kiss. “How about we get up to your cabin so I can… relax you?”

“I like the way you think, Major.”

===

By the time they make their way to the shuttlebay an hour later, Shepard is feeling _very_ relaxed. Just as well, since half the crew is waiting for them, and they burst into raucous applause the instant they step out of the elevator. 

“Still no regrets?” Shepard murmurs to Kaidan as James bursts into a bawdy sounding song in Spanish that Shepard is glad the translator isn’t picking up. 

“Not a single one,” Kaidan says, and they share a smile before turning to face the mockery, together.

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly inspired by watching the vid where EDI tells everyone about Shepard and Tali's relationship on the geth dreadnought (you can watch it [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32epDXPtJVc) if you're interested - those scenes start about 6:51). 
> 
> It was also inspired by trying to break this terrible writer's block I've been suffering through. I think it worked, at least a little. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, and you can find my [tumblr here](http://raininginadelaide.tumblr.com/), if you like :)


End file.
